New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani publicly called for abolishing ICE and declared federal enforcement operations "cruel and inhumane."
Now the man in charge of the entire Department of Homeland Security just responded on national television.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin went on Fox News and said he has "zero respect" for Mamdani – and explained exactly why New York's refusal to cooperate with ICE is putting Americans across the country in danger.
Mullin Named Him Directly
Appearing on Fox News Channel's America Reports Wednesday, Secretary Mullin didn't mince words when asked about the mayor's defiance.
Mamdani – a self-described democratic socialist born in Uganda who became New York City's first Muslim mayor – has spent his first months in office signing executive orders to block ICE from city property and publicly calling for the agency to be abolished entirely.
"Mamdani is a socialist communist that I have zero respect for," Mullin said. "He's running a great city by allowing lawless activity to continue to run rampant on the streets."
The exchange came after Fox host John Roberts played Mamdani's own words – the mayor calling ICE raids "cruel" and "inhumane" and claiming they "do nothing to serve the interests of public safety."
Mullin disagreed.
"President Trump ran on the fact that he's going to restore law back in American cities, even in sanctuary cities," Mullin said. "I don't care if it's a red state or a blue state – we're going to protect the homeland."
Where the Criminals Actually Go
Mullin then laid out the mechanism Mamdani refuses to acknowledge.
New York's sanctuary policies don't just protect criminals inside the five boroughs – they export them everywhere else.
"What happens in these sanctuary cities, like what Mamdani is running, is that the criminals go to the safe haven in New York City, but they disperse throughout other parts of the city or the state and other parts of the country and continue this criminal activity," Mullin said.
The House Oversight Committee confirmed that pattern in a March 2026 report, finding that sanctuary cities function as staging areas for illegal immigrant criminals whose violence spills into neighboring jurisdictions that cooperate with federal authorities.
Tom Homan, Trump's border czar, made the same point earlier this week – New York's refusal to work with ICE isn't a local policy disagreement, it's a national public safety threat.
Mullin's answer to Mamdani: it doesn't matter.
"Mamdani can't do a thing about it because we're going to enforce laws, not pick and choose which laws we are going to enforce like he chooses."
The Numbers Mamdani Won't Talk About
ICE data shows more than 25,000 federal detainer requests were declined by sanctuary jurisdictions between 2022 and early 2025.
Seventy-two criminal aliens with homicide convictions or charges walked out of American jails during that window because sanctuary cities refused to hold them.
DHS data from the first half of 2025 – after Trump's enforcement surge began – showed homicides down 17% across 30 U.S. cities compared to the same period in 2024.
Gun assaults dropped 21%.
Carjacking fell 24%.
Mamdani looked at those results and called for abolishing the agency producing them.
https://twitter.com/RedWavePress/status/2065087430579867918?s=20
He went on The View in January and said it plainly: "I am in support of abolishing ICE."
Seventy percent of ICE arrests nationwide involve illegal aliens with criminal convictions or pending charges.
Those are the people Mamdani is protecting.
What This Actually Means
Mullin put the math simply: 98% of Americans are law-abiding citizens – it's the 2% that ICE is hunting down regardless of which mayor thinks he can stop them.
A man who flew to New York from Uganda at age nine, ran on abolishing the agency protecting your neighborhood, and now holds the keys to a sanctuary city that shielded 72 released homicide offenders – and calls the people trying to stop it cruel.
Mullin's answer is the only one that matters: the surge is coming anyway.
Sources:
- Pam Key, "DHS Chief Mullin: 'I Have Zero Respect' for Zohran Mamdani," Breitbart, June 10, 2026.
- "ICE Reveals Sanctuary Jurisdictions That Have Released the Most Criminal Aliens," Fox News, April 10, 2025.
- "Violent Crime Falls in U.S. Cities as ICE Removes Worst of the Worst," Department of Homeland Security, July 28, 2025.
- "Sanctuary Cities Become Staging Area for Crime, Infect Neighboring Communities," The Washington Times, March 27, 2026.
- "Americans First: ICE Sweeps Up Child Predators, Rapists Across US as Mullin Takes Helm of DHS," Fox News, March 24, 2026.
